Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 timing due to licensing

Capcom is notorious for frequently turning around upgraded re-releases of its games. This is the company that published Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition ver. 2012, and two versions of Dead Rising 2, after all. But Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3's quick release, coming less than a year after its predecessor, is due to licensing issues.

"Marvel is a big company that has their own schedule of licenses with windows," Capcom's Seth Killian told Eurogamer. "We have the license for this specific game, but other companies outside of Capcom have licenses for other Marvel games that impinge. So we have to find specific times where we're able to release products. It's on the Capcom side and the Marvel side."

Killian says he's not asking for sympathy, but just to understand the "corporate realities and legal contracts" that impact business decisions.

As for why the game is being released as a full disc instead of downloadable content, Killian says that it's due to Japan's hesitance to embrace DLC. He says the company has "different schools of thought internally" and has tried various methods like the Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition. Having an all DLC release in Japan would be considered "odd," and he stresses that the Marvel and Street Fighter teams are separate, so they may have different ideas on how to handle extra content. "It's a developing process for Capcom," said Killian.